Operation Matterhorn

Operation Matterhorn was the strategic bombing of Japanese forces by US Air Force B-29 heavy bombers based in India and China during World War II. In December 1943, the Americans began to arrange for the construction of army airfields in India and China, with Kharagpur in India and Chengdu in China becoming major American airbases. Some of the major targets were coke ovens and steel factories in Manchuria and Kyushu, railroad facilities at Bangkok in Thailand, and aircraft factories and bases in Formosa, Kyushu, and Manchuria. The operation also allowed for Americans to test new bombing tactics during its air raids on Japan. On 18 December 1944, 84 B-29s set off from Chengdu in Sichuan, China for Japanese-occupied Hankow on the Yangtze River. They flew much lower than usual and carried mostly incendiary, rather than highly-explosive, bombs. In the ensuing firestorm, Hankow was devastated, and the raid was more effective than almost any of the previous strategic bombing raids. Afterwards, the US utilized low-altitude firebombings in their assaults on Japanese cities themselves.